Jane Austen
Pride & Prejudice
English III
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Reading Schedule
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3/23- Ch. 1-4
3/25- Discussion Question (quiz); Ch. 5-15
3/30- Discussion Question (quiz); Ch. 16-27
4/6- Discussion Question (quiz); Ch. 27-29
4/8- DQ (quiz); Ch. 30-41
4/13- DQ; Ch. 42-45
4/15- DQ; Ch. 46-47
4/16- DQ; Ch. 48-54
4/20- HSAP….finish the book!!!!
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Vocabulary
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Fulsome
Quixotic
Prognosticate
Auspicate
Augur
Presage
Portend
Insouciant
Mollify
impetuous
pique
haughty
necrosis
banter
miscreant
reprobate
perturbation
foible
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Biography
• Jane Austen was born on 16th December 1775,
at Steventon in Hampshire, where her father,
the Rev. George Austen, was rector.
• Her mother was Cassandra Leigh.
• Jane Austen died on July 18th, 1817.
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• The Austens were moderately well off. They
kept a carriage and horses and ‘enjoyed …
some of the considerations usually awarded to
landed proprietors’.
• The household was lively and bookish.
• The family also enjoyed writing and
performing plays for evening entertainment.
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• When young Jane went to balls and picnics,
and paid visits like any other girl of her class.
• Once, it seems, she may have been seriously
in love, but the man died.
• She never married.
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• This is a photograph of
a coat worn by Jane
Austen.
• It gives an idea of the
type of clothes worn by
young ladies of the
time.
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Georgian Writer
• Because of the charm of her plots, their setting in
merry old England, and the Victorian-styled
costumes and 1850 setting used in the first film
adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1940, you may
view Austen as Victorian.
• Jane Austen lived between 1775 and 1817, and her
novels came out between 1813 and 1818, the year
after her death, which places her and her work in the
Georgian period of English history.
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Accurate simplicity of the
Empire line dress
Fake Hollywood!
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The Regency Period
• The Regency period in the United Kingdom is the
period between 1811 and 1820
• King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son,
later George IV, was instated to be his proxy as Prince
Regent.
• The term is often expanded to apply to the years
between 1795 and 1837, a time characterised by
distinctive fashions, politics and culture
• Transitional period between "Georgian" and
"Victorian" eras. The era was distinctive for its
architecture, literature, fashions, and politics.
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Austen Novels
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Pride and Prejudice 1796 (Pub. 1813)
Sense and Sensibility 1797 (Pub. 1811)
Northhanger Abbey 1798 (Pub. 1818)
Mansfield Park (Pub. 1814)
Emma (Pub. 1815)
Persuasion (Pub. 1818)
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Jane Austen Quotes.
• “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration
to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”
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“A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard
of.”
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“An engaged woman is always more agreeable than a
disengaged. She is satisfied with herself. Her cares are over,
and she feels that she may exert all her powers of pleasing
without suspicion. All is safe with a lady engaged; no harm can
be done.”
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Irony
• As in many of Austen’s other novels, irony is employed in
Pride and Prejudice as the lens through which society and
human nature are viewed.
• Through the novel, Austen studies social relationships in the
limited society of a country neighbourhood and investigates
them in detail with an often ironic and humorous eye.
• Note her presentation of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, for example.
Their contrasting temperaments are first shown through their
manner of conversation; Mrs. Bennet chatters on while Mr.
Bennet counters her talk with mildly sarcastic statements, the
mocking tone of which Mrs. Bennet completely misses.
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Social Customs
• Dances figure prominently in Jane
Austen’s novels. Whether
performed in public assembly
rooms in Meryton or in private at
the Netherfield Ball, dances
offered social opportunities for
young people to mix and mingle
and converse in an acceptable
fashion. In an era when a young
lady of good breeding was strictly
chaperoned and escorted
everywhere she went, she would
find it difficult during a routine
day to meet privately with a single
gentleman, even one who was
courting her.
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• At this time, dances lasted about 30 minutes
• Gives the dancers had ample time to converse, flirt,
and even touch one another in an accepted manner.
• A gentleman would never ask a young lady to dance
unless he was first introduced to her.
• During this era people were often judged for their
ability to dance skilfully, and a gentleman was
pressured to cut a fine figure on the dance floor.
Look out for Mr Collins’ dancing technique in the
novel!
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• Regency social manners were all politeness and gentility.
There was protocol for every social interaction; down to the
way a woman holds her fan to indicate her interest in a
gentleman.
• The social hierarchy was the core of everything, and everyone
knew their place, whether they agreed with it or not.
• Women largely did not inherit wealth, nor were they openly
allowed to find their own means; so marriage was one of the
few options she had to secure a comfortable future.
• A marriage based on love was rarely an option for a Regency
woman, income was the first consideration. It is probably
why this period yielded some of the best literary romance
available today.
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Class Hierarchy
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History of Pride & Prejudice
• Originally titled “First Impressions”
• Completed in 1797
• Wasn’t published until 1812 when she
changed to the current title
• Printed three times before she died.
• It has never been out of print.
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Setting
• Begins in the autumn.
• The Bennet family lives in Longbourn,
Hertfordshire, 25 miles from London.
• 5 daughters, ranging from 15-21 years old.
• Mr. Bennet’s estate earns 2,000 a year- not
enough to marry off 5 daughters.
• When he dies, the estate goes to Mr. Collins.
• The novel takes us to Rosings in Kent, London,
Brighton, and Derbyshire.
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Characters
• Elizabeth Bennet (Lizzie)- vivacious
personality, pretty, witty and her father’s
favorite.
• Fitzwilliam Darcy (Mr. Darcy)- very wealthy; at
first glance seems arrogant and rude; follows
social classes rigidly.
• Mr. Bennet- Elizabeth’s father; satirical wit,
realizes his younger daughters are “the silliest
girls in the county”
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Characters
• Mrs. Bennet- Elizabeth’s mother; obsessed
with marrying off her daughters; embarrassing
due to her lack of social graces.
• Mr. Bingley- good breeding, Darcy’s best
friend, happy-go-lucky, in love with Jane.
• Jane Bennet- the eldest Bennet daughter;
beautiful; modest to a fault.
• Lydia- youngest daughter; impulsive, doesn’t
think before acting or speaking.
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Characters
• Mr. Collins- Bennets’ cousin; will inherit
Longbourn when Mr. Bennet dies; wants to
marry a Bennet daughter; he is awkward at
best.
• Mr. Wickham- charming, good looking,
spoiled, insincere, and devious. Watch out.
• Caroline Bingley- Mr. Bingley’s sister; snobby.
• Lady Debourgh- rich aunt to Mr. Darcy
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